Virginia Republicans, who have been pushing to restrict books and other materials they consider to be "obscene," mailed pornographic material to thousands of voters in an effort to attack a Democratic candidate, a report revealed Tuesday.
The state GOP mailed several thousand political flyers to voters highlighting explicit content produced by state legislature candidate Susanna Gibson with her husband that was posted online for paid viewers, reported WWBT-TV.
"As stated in the disclaimer, it came from the Republican Party of Virginia," said GOP chairman Rich Anderson. "Gibson’s campaign has falsely alleged that the videos of her publicly engaging in sexual activity on publicly accessible pornography websites were 'leaked' by Republicans. In reality, the opposite is true."
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The flyers were circulated in envelopes marked, “Do not open if you are under the age of 18″ and, “Warning: Explicit material enclosed," and the mailers contained two pieces of paper with censored quotes and screenshots from livestream videos posted on the Chaturbate website.
Gibson performed sex acts with her husband for a live online audience that was encouraged to pay tips for specific requests, The Washington Post reported. The most recently archived videos were from Sept. 2022.
“[Republican candidate] David Owen and the Virginia GOP are trying to distract voters from their extreme agenda to ban abortion, defund schools, and allow violent criminals to access weapons of war," Gibson's campaign said in a statement. "Voters are tired of these desperate attacks, and they will not be fooled by them. From day one, Susanna has been focused on protecting reproductive freedom, fully funding our schools, and keeping our communities safe. Nothing will ever deter her commitment to our community.”
Anderson claimed public polling showed Gibson trailing Owen by 11 points, but political analyst Larry Sabato said the mailers suggested that internal polling showed Republican was vulnerable.
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“They have decided that this will benefit their candidate," Sabato said. "You wonder whether perhaps a private survey indicated that Susanna Gibson was doing better than they expected her to because that is a very competitive district. It could even be said under certain circumstances it leans democratic."
Virginia law prohibits the circulation of so-called "revenge porn," which the statute describes as the malicious dissemination of video or still images showing a nude person by an individual who isn't authorized to do so for the purpose of harassing or intimidating the person who created that content.
